With the end near, ‘The Fantasticks’ getting more fantastic
“IF AT first you do succeed … try getting even better!” said … nobody I know.
But that sentiment seems appropriate with the news that playwright Tom Jones is still tinkering with his famous musical “The Fantasticks,” despite the unhappy fact that the show, which has been running in New York since 1960, will close on June 4.
Apparently, Mr. Jones has done significant rewriting of the number “Round and Round.” He has always felt that, as it stood, the number never really captured the more somber interpretation he had wanted. The newly re-staged “Round and Round” debuted last week at the Jerry Orbach Theater (1627 Broadway). Surely, I don’t need to remind you that Jerry Orbach starred in the original production. Yes, there was plenty of life and career for Jerry before Detective Briscoe and “Law & Order.”
“The Fantasticks” with music by Harvey Schmidt ( Jones wrote the lyrics and book) is a modern Romeo and Juliet tale — minus the swordfights and poisonings. The score is legendary — “Soon It’s Gonna Rain,” “Try to Remember,” “They Were You.”
“The Fantasticks” has become something of a living landmark in Manhattan, as much a tourist attraction as the lights of Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, The Metropolitan Museum of Art or even The Statue of Liberty.
It is so hard for me to accept or imagine that it truly ends on June 4. It’s the kind of thing we need now more than ever. I hope for a miracle.
IN OUR item the other day about this or that person taking over for Bette Midler, should she dare to leave the current moneymaking monster, “”Hello, Dolly!”” we mentioned, and not at all facetiously, that Charles Busch, the brilliant actor (and playwright) who has appeared from time to time in ladies clothes, might be an interesting Dolly Levi.
This brought an email response from a reader: “Well, I hope you don’t run into Lypsinka!” (aka John Epperson. Lypsinka is his outrageous drag alter-ego). Oh, dear.
However, another reader, Barbara Humphreys, says that Reba McEntire and Patti LuPone are names that have been bandied about quite often on social media. But, she notes, the number one choice is … Cher!
Cher still has a knockout, powerhouse voice and her languid, amused style would be fascinating indeed. I just don’t know how she’d feel about all those turn-of-the-century costumes. Somewhere along the line she’d have to work in a gown consisting of two beads and a prayer. (Probably during the Harmonia Gardens “Dolly” serenade.)
Of course, all this is moot because I think the producers of “Dolly” would happily rob Fort Knox to convince Bette to make some sort of personal residency at the Shubert. To see this woman radiate onstage is to witness great theater and great theatrical history.
Those TV ads are right — years from now there will be the people who’ll recall fondly seeing Bette Midler in “Hello, Dolly!” And then the ones who’ll SAY they saw her!
WHY DID Tennessee Williams’ masterwork, “The Glass Menagerie” decide to close early, on Sunday?
You’d think having a major star like the beloved and talented Sally Field in a revival of a recognized classic in American theater would sustain. Yet it will close early, despite a Tony Award nomination for Ms. Field.
I’ll offer an obvious opinion. Even a cherished classic can be revived too often. And the last version, with the brilliant Cherry Jones, seems like only yesterday. (That production ran six months, closing in February 2014.) Tennessee was a personal pal and I suffered through his rejections and harsh critiques from The New York Times. But even Tennessee might say, now: “Enough already. Give it a rest.”